Influence of fertilizers on the natural radioactivity profile of soil samples of agricultural land in Villupuram District, Tamilnadu State, India

Besides the presence of naturally occurring primordial radionuclides at varying levels in soils, the source of additional natural radioactivity content in agricultural land soils is mainly due to the presence of NORM in the fertilizers. Natural Radioactivity content is determined in ten different types of fertilizers available in Villupuram District, Tamilnadu State and influence of these, if any, in fertilized agricultural soil samples is investigated and compared with virgin soil samples from nearby agricultural land where fertilizers were not used. Relatively higher radioactivity content of 238U and 40K are observed in single super phosphate and potash fertilizers respectively.